Weekend box office: First Man battles for third place while Venom stays on top

Brad SturdivantOctober 14th, 2018

Box office success doesn’t always play a huge factor into who takes home Oscar glory, but it doesn’t hurt to have a film with critical and popular success. FIRST MAN (click the link to read our review) should end up finishing around $17 million, which isn’t terrible, but it isn’t as great as I’m sure Universal was hoping. In general, the film has received loads of critical praise, but it doesn’t seem to be clicking with mass audiences. Hopefully, FIRST MAN will stay in the top ten at the weekend box office for a while. The other new movie of the weekend was GOOSEBUMPS 2, which at this rate should finish in fourth place. Finally, there’s BATTLE AT THE EL ROYALE, which couldn’t crack the top five.

Next week sees the release of HALLOWEEN, featuring the much hyped return of Jamie Lee Curtis. The only horror film that was hanging around was THE NUN, which has now dropped off, so HALLOWEEN should have a nice, straight shot to the top of the weekend box office. I would assume the rest of next week’s box office will follow what it was this week, with VENOM coming in second place. There are a few smaller movies to watch out for, including CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? Early word is that Melissa McCarthy turns in an Oscar-worthy performance, but I can’t see the film having great box office success. There’s also MID90S, which features the directing debut of Jonah Hill, along with the Oscar chasing WHAT THEY HAD. Again, should be an easy number one spot for HALLOWEEN. Note: the numbers below will be updated as they become final.